Waves are a fact of life for all floating bodies/vessels. From ocean-going ships, barges, and floating oil platforms to freshwater boats and canoes, all floating vessels are impacted by waves. As a result, one of the main design characteristics for any floating vessel is stability. Stability is important not only because it affects the comfort of passengers and crew (by reducing the sensation of movement that can lead to motion-sickness, for example), but also because it affects safety. After all, in order to safely traverse a body of water, a floating vessel must be sufficiently stable so that it will not capsize when exposed to waves.
Waves can induce several different types of motion on a floating vessel. One of the most critical of such motions that should be accounted for when designing a floating vessel is roll. Roll is the tendency of a vessel to rotate back and forth, rocking from side to side about its longitudinal axis. Of all of the motions experienced by a floating vessel, roll has the most significant impact on stability; if waves impart too much rolling motion to a floating vessel, then the vessel may capsize.
Given the importance in overcoming wave-induced roll, floating vessel hull design has concentrated on techniques for resisting wave roll motion. Despite such design efforts, however, roll continues to be a critical problem that should be addressed in order to produce more effective floating vessels. Disclosed below are novel techniques and devices that can be used to dampen roll motion in floating vessels. These disclosed embodiments can be integrated into new floating vessel designs, or they may be retrofitted onto pre-existing vessels, added onto vessels in order to improve the way that such vessels handle adverse wave roll situations.